TAMPA: During the 2021 season USF fans got tired of hearing announcers say “touchdown” for the opposing team. It happened far too often. In fact, it happened almost more than any other team in Division-I football as the Bulls ranked 123 out 130 FBS defense.

With one game remaining in the season, head coach Jeff Scott fired defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer.

“(I) made the decision Sunday morning that I really felt we needed to make a change with our defensive coordinator position,” said Scott November 23^rd ahead of the team’s season finale against UCF.  “I definitely understand this is going to be a really important hire for our defense and for our team.”

Enter Bob Shoop: a veteran defensive play-caller who has been at multiple Big Ten and SEC schools over the last decade. His job is a simple one – revive the Bulls defense.

“We keep talking about it in our room about developing a championship style of defensive play,” said Shoop who started his coaching career at Yale. “The three critical situations you have to be great at on defense are third down – get your stops when a team is at third down; do a great job in the red zone – force field goals; and somehow, some way, do a great job with the clock situation.”

USF has only been through a portion of their spring camp, but the defensive players already feel comfortable with their new coordinator.

“Coach Shoop is just a great person, overall, let alone a great coach,” said graduate linebacker Antonio Grier.  “He’s very funny, he’s hilarious, he jokes around and plays with us. He’s got an edge to him as a defensive coordinator, as a coach. He has an edge and he walks around with an edge.”

“Even though it’s a new defense and a new playbook guys are hungry and they are eager to play and contribute to the team,” said graduate linebacker Dwayne Boyles.

That’s exactly the mentality coach Scott wants with his defense – a group that plays hungry and with a purpose. And he has seen a change in just the simplest form.

“I look on the sideline of our defense and every single player has their toes on the line,” said Scott during spring camp. “They are watching, they are communicating, they are pointing.”

USF’s defense is still forming it’s identity under Shoop. His scheme will be determined by the skillset of his players. But no matter what, they will play with aggression.

“One thing about coach Shoop is he is very aggressive,” said Boyles.  “He likes to say he has an in-your-face attacking defense. We all love that. All the guys love that. We’ve been waiting for something like that to come through here.”

“You can’t play at the University of South Florida in coach Shoop’s defense by being passive,” said Grier. “No way, impossible.  You have to be an aggressive player and you have to have an edge to you because he has an edge to him.”

“The person I am is very aggressive; attack,” said senior defensive end Rashawn Yates. “So to have somebody backing me and I know the type of person calling plays that is on the same time that I am on is just great.”

Playing aggressive is what will allow coach Shoop’s defense to create chaos. And by creating chaos, his unit can do something even more valuable – get the ball back to the offense.

“Creating takeaways and takeaways are the great equalizer,” said Shoop, who has led defenses in the SEC and Big Ten to top 25 statiscal rankings, including the #2 overall defense at Penn State in 2014. “You could give up a ton of yards but if suddenly you get takeaways you can turn a bad defense to good; a good defense to great; a great one to a championship one and that’s what we’ve really tried to have happen.”

Bob Shoop has done a lot in over 30 years of coaching. He’s led successful defenses at places like Penn State and Mississippi State. But now he finds himself in the abyss with a Bulls defense at the bottom of college football. Each day he sees his players getting better. If nothing else, he’s already given them something that has been lacking for a while – confidence.

“I’m not hoping to win,” said Yates. “We are going to win.”

And the Bulls can build off of that confidence for the rest of spring and summer.